'What can we do for the children?': Town hall in Evanston on immigration draws crowd looking for answers

Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press

Many hands went up in the audience after U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., asked at a town hall meeting on July 2, 2018 in Evanston how many had parents or grandparents who immigrated to the United States. The town hall was hosted by the Democratic Party of Evanston.

Many hands went up in the audience after U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., asked at a town hall meeting on July 2, 2018 in Evanston how many had parents or grandparents who immigrated to the United States. The town hall was hosted by the Democratic Party of Evanston. (Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press)

Genevieve Bookwalter

Philis Sugar of Skokie left Evanston’s Fleetwood-Jordain Center on Monday night still not sure how to help the immigrant kids separated from their parents that she has seen on the news.

She was especially concerned about the dozens of children who have reportedly been transported to Chicago from the Texas border and housed by the local nonprofit Heartland Alliance.

“I’m not a lawyer. I don’t speak Spanish,” Sugar said. “What can we do for the children?”

Democratic political candidates attempted to answer that question Monday night as part of a town hall meeting held at the Fleetwood-Jourdain and hosted by the Democratic Party of Evanston (DPOE).

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., who is running for reelection in November, was joined on a panel by Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz of Glenview, an immigration attorney and Democratic nominee for Illinois 17th District state representative, and Kwame Raoul of Chicago, the Democrats’ nominee for Illinois attorney general.

Hundreds packed an immigration town hall on July 2 in Evanston, where U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky spoke about the ongoing controversy at the border.

Hundreds packed an immigration town hall on July 2 in Evanston, where U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky spoke about the ongoing controversy at the border.

The three took the stage in front of a few hundred people to discuss what can be done to address what some have called the horrific images seen and stories being told about immigrants who enter the country illegally and have their children separated from them, under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” enforcement policy.

Children crossing the into the U.S. border with their parents have been separated because adults illegally entering the country are charged criminally under the policy.

National leaders have said that though the rule has long been a part of immigration policy, past administrations were not swift to enforce it.

Nationwide and locally, opposition to those immigration rules has not been strictly a Democratic stance.

While not in attendance at the town hall Monday, Republican Joan McCarthy Lasonde of Winnetka, who is running in November for state Senate representing the 9th District against Glenview Democrat Laura Fine, and Peter Lee, the Wilmette Republican who is running against Gong-Gershowitz, also spoke out against the practice of splitting up immigrant children from their parents.

“We as a nation are better than that,” said Lee, whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Korea. “It should not be a political issue. While we may differ on ways to secure our borders and other broader immigration issues we should come together on this particular point of separation of children.”

Greg Andrus, co-chair of the Democratic Party of Evanston, said the situation has provoked so much emotion.

He explained that the town hall was “not just let people know what’s happening” but also “how to get involved.”

DPOE President Ginny Darakjian said the event was “a call to action.”

Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., left, and Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz of Glenview, Democratic nominee for 17th District Illinois state representative, listen during a town hall meeting on immigration held July 2, 2018 at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Center in Evanston.

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., left, and Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz of Glenview, Democratic nominee for 17th District Illinois state representative, listen during a town hall meeting on immigration held July 2, 2018 at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Center in Evanston. (Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press)

To that end, Gong-Gershowitz, an immigration attorney whose grandparents came to the U.S. from China, asked for fellow lawyers and Spanish speakers to volunteer with the Chicago-based National Immigrant Justice Center. The organization is handling many of the family separation cases nationwide, she said.

“This battle is fundamentally about who we are and who we want to be,” Gong-Gershowitz said.

Schakowsky said it’s important that all constituents vote in November. She said she hopes that Democrats can retake the U.S. House of Representatives.

“If we do not turn out we will not win,” Schakowsky said. “This is a moment for activism, for progress, to say ‘no, this is not what our country is.’”

Raoul, the son of Haitian immigrants, echoed Schakowsky.

“Elections have consequences,” Raoul said, adding that the state attorney general’s office is often the “last line of defense” for fighting federal policies and procedures.

Lasonde, a foster mother and advocate for foster children, encouraged constituents who feel helpless to aid kids in their own communities who need homes.

“Here in Illinois we have over 18,000 children in the state foster care system. These children have also been separated from their families, having done absolutely nothing wrong to suffer this fate,” Lasonde said.

Many in attendance Monday said they were hoping to learn more about what has been considered a complicated, thorny issue that has torn at hearts and minds across the United States in recent weeks. Reportedly, more than 2,300 migrant children have been taken from their parents, specifically at the nation’s southern border, after families have illegally crossed over.

Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press

Chicago Democrat Kwame Raoul, nominee for Illinois attorney general, speaks during a town hall meeting on immigration July 2, 2018 at the Fleetwood-Jourdain in Evanston.

Chicago Democrat Kwame Raoul, nominee for Illinois attorney general, speaks during a town hall meeting on immigration July 2, 2018 at the Fleetwood-Jourdain in Evanston. (Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press)

On June 20, following national outrage, President Donald Trump signed an executive order reversing the separation policy. Now, migrant families are allowed to stay in detention together.

Gong-Gershowitz said she expects that order to be challenged in court, as it violates a national 20-day limit for detaining children that was established in 1997.

A majority of those in the town hall crowd raised their hands when Schakowsky asked who in attendance had parents or grandparents who immigrated to the U.S., or came as an immigrant themselves.

“I believe in the idea of the United States as a refuge,” Deborah Bornstein, 65, of Evanston, said before the event got underway. She is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to the U.S.

“We owe it to history to defend that idea and to take care of individuals,” Bornstein said.